What drives the hobby love for certain players? Ozzie Smith as an example...

[frankhardy]

Originally Posted by bk400

(For the record, I'm not trying to pick on Ozzie. He was my favorite player growing up. My dad took me to Shea Stadium when the Cardinals were in town one summer, and I leaned over the railing during warm-ups, and Mr. Smith signed a ball for me. Probably one of the most enduring of my baseball memories. I wonder if today's players realize how they can make or break a kid's day depending on whether they sign their autograph.)

That is so true. Also, the opposite is true I have found out. When baseball players sign autographs for fans and for kids especially, most kids just grab the item after it is signed and move on.

Our son is a 23-year-old mechanical engineer now and we are very proud of him. But when he was about 6 years old it was the first year at the new Busch Stadium. Scott Rolen was signing autographs and my son Andrew took his baseball down to the edge of the field where there were probably 30 kids waiting for autographs. Scott Rolen was signing autograph after autograph and moving on down the line almost mechanically just to be able to sign as many as he could as fast as he could.

When he got to Andrew, Andrew looked at him in the eyes and said "thank you" in a sweet little child's voice. I will never ever forget this. Scott Rolen stopped in his tracks and he looked like he was stunned. He looked at my son for a couple of seconds stopped and said, "Son you keep that up. That is very good manners." It was almost as if nobody ever told him a simple "thank you". I think that made an impression on Scott Rolen. When you watch his Hall of Fame speech, I'm not exactly sure what words he used but he talked much about integrity and character throughout his speech.

Wouldn't it have been very cool for him to have mentioned that? I doubt he remembers it but I guarantee you I'll never forget it.